Tea tasting: David's Tea's Main Squeeze

Yerba mate is an herb related to holly that is used to make a brew that tastes like green tea.  It's supposed to be energizing without being caffeinated.

On Saturday, I sampled David's Teas' Main Squeeze, a yerba mate tea with flavors of orange, papaya and pineapple.  This brew tastes more or less like a tropical green tea, although slightly sweet, probably because it uses candied papaya and pineapple made with cane sugar as part of the tisane.  A little honey emphasized both the sweetness and the fruitiness.  The tea iced up well without losing the fruit flavors.  There was none of the bitterness that can sometimes be associated with yerba mate brews.

Tea shop review: Tea Grotto in Salt Lake City Utah

Being out in Salt Lake City, UT for a conference, I gathered up a bunch of like-minded tea fans and hit the Tea Grotto.   We had a truly superb time.

The decor is funky, Asian-inspired, not British tea shop.  There are a number of small tables with pillow-topped stools plus an alcove with a table and pillow-strewn benches.  The group of 20+ of us invaded the place around about 6:30 p.m. and pretty much took it over with only a little room to spare.   Despite there being only one person on duty, he managed to juggle all of us and our orders and questions extremely well.

The Tea Grotto is not really a place for sit down food.  There are some light snacks on the menu, things like a hummus platter and pot stickers, as well as a few different types of pastries.  But, the Tea Grotto has a relationship with the restaurant next door, the Pig and Jelly Jar.  We ordered from the restaurant and they brought us over food while we camped out in the Tea Grotto.  This worked out exceptionally well, for all that it seems like a logistical nightmare.

(By the way, the Pig and Jelly Jar serves some of the best strawberry shortcake I've ever had.  But that's not why we're here.)

The Tea Grotto has a large tea menu featuring a remarkable breadth of tea, including bubble teas and chais.  Many of the loose-leaf teas are also available in its on-line store.   All of the individual orders were brewed right there in the cup or the pot (as is right and proper).

I sampled two of the teas: Sweet Amber Oolong and the Melon Passion.

The Sweet Amber Oolong was a strong, smoky and slightly sweet tea, with nice layered flavor.  I liked it enough that I picked up a package to bring home.  I will likely steep it for slightly less time, and maybe add a tiny touch of honey.   I certainly had no problem with the very strong brew last night, after having gotten to the airport at 4 a.m. Eastern time.

The Melon Passion (which I also purchased to bring home) was a light, bright, only slightly sweet fruity tea.  I definitely got "passionfruit" out of it.  Somewhat less so melon.  But by that point I was also eating dinner and strawberry shortcake, so my palate had other things on its mind.

I also purchased the Fig and Lavender black for trying at home.

I'm going to ask some of the folks who joined me to chime in with reviews of the teas that they tried.

Samples of nearly all of the loose teas (in dry form) were available for smelling while I was trying to decide what to taste.  Our host (whose name I have unforgivably forgotten) was very knowledgeable and able to advise me about what I might like based on my stated preferences.

I highly recommend the Tea Grotto to anyone who finds herself in Salt Lake City.  It was fun and friendly, with a great selection of truly interesting teas.

Bottled Iced Tea: Pure Leaf's "Tea House Collection"

During this weekend's road trip, I discovered a new brand of bottled iced tea.  Pure Leaf (otherwise known for its perfectly adequate commercial iced tea) has a "Tea House Collection" in heavy glass bottles.  Intrigued, I picked up the Black Tea with Wild Blackberry and Sage and the Green Tea with Fuji Apple and Ginger.  I must say, both were pretty darn good.

The Black Tea was definitely the better of the two.  It had flavor and character without being sweet.   It's a rare bottled iced tea that is worth tasting, rather than simply chugging for caffeine content, but this one tasted like it was decent quality tea.

The Green Tea with Fuji Apple and Ginger was interesting.  The mix of ginger and tea was odd, and the apple tone kept fighting the ginger and tea flavors for dominance.   But I want to drink it again when I'm not also focused on driving so that I can take the time to analyze the taste more closely.  It was definitely a vast improvement over 90% of bottled tea choices, however.

I definitely approve of the "Tea House Collection" and of the easily recyclable glass bottles.

Tea tasting: Adagio Black Teas

I ordered some Adagio samples again: This time I bought some very basic black teas as a change of pace from the more exotic blends.

The Irish Breakfast was everything I could want out of an Irish Breakfast tea.  It was strong, black, hardy, basic and an excellent caffeine delivery system.   It was still the tea equivalent of a punch in the face after two brewings.

The Assam Melody had more subtlety without losing its essential tea-ness.   A good Assam is still my favorite way to start the morning.  Adagio bills this as a "friendly" Assam for people still new to drinking good tea with layered flavors.  I tend to think of all Assams that way -- they are the tea for people who like black tea for its own sake -- and the Assam Melody did not disappoint.

Commercial iced tea: Wendy's Green Tea

I drink bad tea so that you don't have to.

While on a recent road trip, I stopped at Wendy's in need of something to drink.  Wendy's black iced tea is a perfectly acceptable caffeine delivery system.   Given that I had few other choices while in the middle of gorram nowhere, it seemed like a reasonable stop to make.

But -- and there is always a "but" isn't there? -- I didn't want too much more caffeine that particular day, because the insomnia has been kicking my butt of late.  So I ordered Wendy's iced green tea.

Don't.  Just Don't.   Learn from my mistakes and never let this swill pass your lips.

To begin with, it was way too sweet, in that artificial bug juice sort of way that stops being appealing about the time one hits puberty.   After the sweetness smacked around my palate for a bit, the cloying, almost chemical, aftertaste kicked in.  I wanted to scrape the roof of my mouth to get that taste out of it.  There was nothing natural about this concoction and certainly nothing remotely connected to tea.

Tea tasting: Tea Forte's Blueberry Merlot

After some deeply disappointing tastings of late, Tea Forte's Blueberry Merlot herbal tea is a nice return to form.   It's got a rich, rounded blueberry flavor, quite fruity.   Adding honey brings out the richness of the flavor, but might make it overly sweet to some people.

I don't know where the merlot comes in.  I don't taste anything wine-like.  I suppose the aroma might have some wine-like qualities if you went looking for them.  This is not a disadvantage, in my world.

Tea Tasting: Republic of Tea's Downton Abbey Estate Blend

I admit, my first cup of Downton Abbey Estate Blend disappointed me deeply.  It's grown on me since then, with some careful handling.

Downton Abbey Estate Blend is essentially a combination of Earl Grey and vanilla: black tea, bergamot orange oil and vanilla.   By all rights, this should work for me, right?   On the first up, it Did Not Work.  I accidentally let it steep past 5 minutes and, unlike most other kinds of Republic of Tea teas, this long steep pretty much ruined it.   The bergamot became too perfume-y, the vanilla became gag-inducingly bad potpourri.  I didn't think there could be a vanilla flavor that I didn't like, but I should know never to say never.

Undaunted, I began to experiment to see whether the full package of tea could be salvaged.  Fortunately, it could.   Limiting the steeping to no more than 3.5 minutes keeps the bergamot and vanilla in line.  Adding some honey after the 3.5 minute steep manages the flavors to the point where they are a feature, not a bug.   With some attention and patience, it has become decently drinkable.

This is one of Republic of Tea's limited edition Downton Abbey-themed teas.  Unlike the sublime Downton Abbey English Rose, this one should stay "limited."